Concussions and their long-term effects

By Dylan Quist & Austin Leonetti 

What is a concussion? A concussion is a when your brain is affected by a blunt force. Usually a concussion happens during sports as there are three million U.S. cases a  year. The symptoms of concussions include headaches, confusion, memory loss, nausea, vomiting, dizziness,sleepiness, and excessive fatigue. The most common sport for a concussion to take place in is football. What many people do not know about concussions is that they have long term affects on your memory as well as any other symptoms. The long term cause is known as CTE, or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. CTE is what happens after your brain suffers enough concussions as the symptoms begin 8-10 years afterwards. The symptoms that you suffered during concussions begin to become regular. When people first discovered CTE they began thinking more and more about concussions and how it would affect their lives after they had retired from their respective sports. From a test by Boston College on former NFL players, 90 of 94 tested positive for CTE. So why do people continue to play sports that could lead to concussions and CTE? Are they not concerned about their brain health? According to Gary Robertson, when asked about why he thinks athletes still play contact sports with the risks of permanently damaging their brains, he said “The benefits of team sports, of contact sports, just in general of what it does for their individual growth, it’s pretty significant. When it comes to the dangers of a concussion, concussions typically happen when someone is making a mistake. It’s my job as a coach to minimize these mistakes. Their are guys who have played their entire high school career, their entire college career, without getting a concussion. There are guys that have gone through the pros without getting a concussion, so really it’s just the function of technique and putting yourself in a better situation so you don’t get yourself in a bind.” So the theory of how to prevent concussions is to have better technique. However, even if you had the best technique in the world, would you still want to play sports that could risk your entire life?